


What she became

by Stardust_and_Strawberries



Series: Underappreciated Characters [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen, Villains, descriptions of violence, inhuman!Raina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 08:42:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4660086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardust_and_Strawberries/pseuds/Stardust_and_Strawberries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I really wasn't happy with Raina's response to her transformation and her eventual redemption arc, neither of which matched my own ideas of her personality, so I wrote my own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What she became

**Author's Note:**

> Diverges from canon after Raina escapes from the temple in "Aftershocks"

She wasn't pretty anymore. This would make life more difficult.

Her watch had been damaged by the quake but it seemed that Raina had judged her wait correctly, emerging in the still quiet hours of the morning. Safe from human eyes she had leapt from rooftop to rooftop, finally coming to rest atop an elegant steel and glass structure.

She could see her reflection in the shallow pond below, smooth on this windless night. Her first glimpse of her new face had come at a time of haste and fear and she had been horrified by the extent of the changes she saw. Now she was far from the agents and had had a chance to discover what her body was capable of. High above the sleeping city she felt calm and curious. She leapt from the building, revelling in the rush of night air over her face, knowing that even from this height her landing would be safe.

Gleaming amber eyes studied her reflection. The soft curls and wide eyes that humans had found so appealing were gone, no human would ever find her pretty again. But after the initial shock she realized that she was no longer limited by human ways of thinking.

Raina leaning forward, admiring the graceful arcs of her spines, her talons. She ran a newly sensitive tongue over the her teeth, learning their shapes. She stretched and curled her fingers, gazing in wonder at the tiny muscles beneath her skin that pulled the spikes on her hands erect.

Reaching a decision Raina leapt up and ran for an area of deeper shadow, her reflection keeping pace beside her in the dark water. Her inhuman eyes saw better in the darkness than she had before in the light and she knew they would be hunting her. She did not fear them, not now - she smiled at the memory of how her claws had sliced so easily through the first SHIELD technician's throat. The first two she had killed reluctantly to prevent discovery, still considering it a risk. When she realized how weak they were, how soft, she had killed the others out of fascinated curiosity, delighted to discover what her new body was capable of. Still, she must not become overconfident. Caution was wise until she had decided her next move.

The chrysalis and her flight from the temple had not been kind to her clothes. She tore them away from her body and cast the rags into the pool without regret; they were ugly, functional things designed for stealth, not the delicate floral designs she preferred. Even during a life on the run Raina had managed to acquire a large collection of exquisite dresses and she felt a moment of sadness that none of them would fit her now. Still she must look to the future. Her grandmother had always told her that transformation would not be be without cost.

In the darkness her new skin was the color of moonlight beneath the forest of spines. She twisted and flexed in front of the water, admiring her unfamiliar form, alien and powerful. She ran her fingers between the quills over new planes and lines, sighing when her fingertips encountered the places where she had already marred the angels' gift in her first desperate flight. She had cut herself while she was still trying to move like a human. She knew better now and would not make that mistake again. The imperfections would heal, just as the bullet wounds had.

But she wasn't pretty anymore. So many of the stratagems she had relied on in the past would no longer work. Her face would not make men want to please her, to protect her, to tell themselves that they loved her. They would fear her, be revolted by her, hunt her. She would not even be able to move freely among the humans in daylight any more.

Her methods would need to change. That was okay. She would adapt and survive, just as she always had.

Raina smiled, a wide, inhuman gape. Let them fear her. She wasn't one of them, never had been, but before she had worn a pretty face and a pretty dress, pretended to be human to stay safe from them, to manipulate them, to make them help her prepare herself for her transformation. Now she didn't need them any more and she could wear her difference, her superiority proudly.

She wasn't pretty anymore.

She was beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> Raina is at the San Juan Convention Centre.


End file.
